Close Shave
by shake-n-shiver
Summary: Rose interrupts the Doctor, and the Doctor lets something slip. Part of the Glimpses series.


**Title:** Close Shave  
**Author:** sinecure  
**Character/Pairing:** Ten/Rose  
**Rating:** Teen  
**Genre:** Humor, fluff, romance  
**Summary:** Rose interrupts the Doctor, and the Doctor lets something slip.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Doctor Who.  
**Author's Notes:** to JennyLD for the beta.

Rose pounded impatiently on the Doctor's bedroom door. "Doctor!" Her mum chattered in her ear, making her pound harder with a roll of her eyes. "Doctor!" Jackie's voice continued, hounding her. "Are you-- oh!"

The door opened and the Doctor appeared, and all Rose could do was stare at him dumbly. "What is it? What's wrong?" He ducked his head out the door, anxiously peering down both lengths of the hallway before returning his wide-eyed gaze to her.

"Um..." There was a small patch of shaving cream on his jaw, directly below his right sideburn. His wet skin, glistening in the brighter lights of the hall, was still stubbly, just a bit. Just enough to give him a dark, scruffy look.

He watched her struggle for a few seconds, then shifted the towel around his waist, tightening it, tucking the edge in, enough so that he could release it and grab her face, turning her toward him, forcing her to look at him. "Rose. What is it?"

In the sudden silence, her mum's voice came through clearly, calling Rose's name anxiously.

The Doctor looked down at her mobile, held limply in her slack hand.

She lifted it to her ear and mumbled, "Gotta go, Mum." Jackie said something that Rose wasn't even sure she understood. "Yeah, we'll be there." She snapped the phone shut and slipped it into her pocket.

The Doctor frowned at her, adjusting his towel, forcing a small sound from Rose's throat as the material dipped down when he breathed out. "Something wrong with Jackie?"

She flicked her eyes down, though she tried hard to keep her gaze on his face. His hipbone was showing. The trail of hair going down his stomach disappeared quite tantalizingly under the fluffy, gold material. Shaking her head, trying to clear her thoughts of trailing her tongue down that same route, she licked her lips, watching a drop of water run down his jaw, and then his neck in another path she wanted to mimic with her tongue. It collected in the dip of his collarbone for a moment before resuming its journey downward. "She wanted to know if we could visit."

Rolling his eyes, he shifted again, grabbing the knot of the towel just below his hipbone. "Do we have--"

"You're shaving." Brilliant mind, she thought to herself, mentally groaning as his eyebrows dipped down for a moment.

"Was about to," he agreed, sounding a bit snippy.

"And, you're nearly nude," she added, watching that bit of shaving cream he'd managed to put on begin to melt, though her eyes kept trying to travel lower.

"Oh, is it state-the-obvious day?" That was definitely snippy. "I had no idea." When she merely blinked at him, not trusting herself to talk, he frowned and moved a step closer. "You're acting a bit odd, Rose. You sure you're all right?"

She swallowed, inhaling the minty, woodsy scent of him, and nodded. "Yeah."

After a moment, a chuckle left his lips and a smug smile tugged the corners upward. "As it's state-the-obvious day... you're startled, and a bit bothered by seeing me like this." Again, he moved, and the towel slipped further, exposing even more of his stomach and hipbone.

He was right. But, did he know that she was bothered in the way that she wanted to jump his bones? Wanted to lick the drops of moisture from his jaw and slip her fingers under that towel to wander to places she'd begun to doubt he even had?

"Crisis over?" he asked, turning to look over his shoulder at the mirror. "I'd like to finish shaving and put some clothes on."

"Do you have to?" she blurted out, then slapped her hands over her mouth, staring at him with wide eyes, feeling embarrassment wash over her. Stepping back, trying to ignore his amused--and pleased?--smirk, she headed off down the hall, calling over her shoulder, "I didn't say that!"

His laughing voice called out to her, "Oh, now it's lie-like-a-rug day!"

Rose gritted her teeth and hurried faster down the hall, tossing him a two-fingered wave. His next words drew her to a halt though, heart pounding in her chest, mouth going suddenly dry.

"I'd prefer it were make-love-to-Rose day."


End file.
